Is the Iraqi army stepping up to the plate? ISI/AQI leaders dropping like flies.

As the world focuses on the aftermath of post Iraqi election vote counting, re-counting and coalition maneuvering, meandering at a snail's pace, the deadline for US troop withdrawals set by President Obama looms. There is huge political and logistical momentum behind drawing down US troop levels in Iraq. President Obama has staked a good portion of his foreign policy legacy on leaving Iraq and "winning" in Afghanistan and the Pentagon has begun the biggest movement of military kit in history. Despite the massive inertia, the worst nightmare for the US is leaving Iraq prematurely only to see the country descend into anarchy or civil war once we're gone. Obviously a stable, non-sectarian and hopefully secular government is essential to the long term stability of Iraq, however, without the emergence of the American equipped, trained, and organized Iraqi Army as a capable fighting force, there is a virtual guarantee that the future of Iraq, and quite a few historical legacies, will be in shambles.

A fundamentalist is a fundamentalist, no matter their stripes

One of the most contentious arguments you can have with a fellow Zionist centers around the role, influence and prevalence of extreme right wing "hill-toppers" amongst the settler community and how to deal with the threat they pose to Israel. The classification of settlers and settlements is about as divisive as it gets and much of the nuance and differences is glossed over by international opinion, media and politicians in the treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The vast majority of Israeli "settlers" live in major, well defined settlement blocs that are widely recognized as areas that will be kept by Israel in any final status agreement with the Palestinians. They live in these settlements for a variety of reasons including cheap housing, government subsidies and religious/zionist beliefs. They are not breaking any Israeli laws (international law is more complicated) and will almost certainly never be asked to leave their homes. Outside of these blocs are both legal (again according to Israeli law) and illegal settlements. Most of these are populated by religious Zionists that are wholeheartedly against any concessions or evacuations. Increasingly they have been fighting evacuations and settlement freezes by the IDF as ordered by the Israeli government and courts by means of an organized resistance dubbed the "price tag," which calls for any attempt by the Israeli government and security services to be met with violent attacks on Palestinian property and civilians and perhaps most surprisingly, violence directed at the IDF who protects them.

The issue has come to a breaking point in my mind. I can no longer dismiss right wing radicals as a fringe element that whose behavior can be explained as isolated and swept under the rug. The threat posed by radical Jewish settlers is real and very worrisome. These elements believe their actions are sanctioned by religion and choose only to obey the rule of the state when it suits their interests. They have no qualms about using violence against Palestinian civilians, or Israeli security forces. They have openly called for a policy of retributive "price tags" to be inflicted upon Palestinian civilians in response to any Israeli policies that target their illegal activity. Their actions are not only illegal, but an ugly manipulation of Jewish ethics that is an embarrassment to me as a Jew.

Its been awhile...Lets re-start with a doozy...Peace in the Middle East!...or lack thereof.

I know. I know. It's been quite some time since I jumped onto my pulpit to bully my 1-3 readers. Been busy fashionista/farming. Anyway. A great read in Haaretz's Mess Report today that sheds a lot of light onto the perspective of average Israelis with regard to peace prospects. It is often hard for the average American/European to understand how Israelis can tolerate the uncertainty and world consternation about the lack of progress in the "Peace Process," but on the ground in Tel Aviv, it isn't registering in the same way.